People of all ages enjoy the pleasures of riding motorcycles. In recent years, manufacturers of many motorcycles have devoted substantial attention and resources to designing comfort into the motorcycles. Now there are many makes and types of motorcycles available to enable riders to ride long distances, even cross-country, comfortably.
One particular area of motorcycle design that has received attention over the years is in the area of wind deflection. For example, some motorcycles are now provided with upper and lower front fairings that deflect some, but not all, of the oncoming wind. This in turn reduces the amount of wind impacting the rider. However, the design of motorcycles, particularly the frontal area including the front fork assembly, has made it difficult to design fairings and wind deflectors that block or deflect most oncoming air. As discussed above, some motorcycles employ both upper and lower fairings. Between these two fairings is an open space and this permits oncoming wind to enter the open space between the upper and lower fairings, and move under the lower edge of the upper fairing and impact the chest, face and helmet areas of the rider. This adversely affects the rider. In the summertime it increases the heat exposed to the rider and in the wintertime it increases the rider's exposure to cold air. In addition, this increases rider fatigue and decreases the rider's visibility due to helmet and eyeglasses moving or vibrating (buffeting). In addition, this oncoming wind increases exposure to rain, bugs, and road debris.
Blocking or deflecting wind in the area between the upper and lower fairings is challenging. This is because the front fork assembly must turn between extreme positions, sometimes referred to as lock-to-lock. Therefore, any type of wind deflector secured in this area to any part of the fork assembly must not interfere with other structural elements of the motorcycle. This can be a problem when attempting to position wind deflectors underneath an upper fairing, for example. Wind deflectors positioned in this area and secured to the front fork assembly tend to impact or hit other portions of the motorcycle such as a crash bar or lower fairing when the fork assembly is turned to an extreme position.
Therefore, there has been and continues to be a need for wind deflectors for a motorcycle that are positioned immediately below the upper fairing and which are effective at blocking or deflecting oncoming wind in areas around the outboard sides of the fork assembly. This prevents oncoming wind or air from passing underneath the lower edge of the upper fairing and impacting the chest, face and helmet areas of the rider.